Rotisserie

A cooking device that is built to hold food items, such as meat, poultry and vegetables securely while being slowly rotated, continuously over hot coals or heated burners. For meat and poultry, a common rotisserie will contain a spit, which is a single pointed metal shaft or a group of thinner shafts that are used to spear the food in order to hold it in position so it can be rotated without falling off the shaft. Older rotisseries required the chef to manually turn the spit while the food cooked. Many current rotisseries use small motors to keep the food turning at a constant speed so the heat is evenly dispersed over the food as it rotates. The term rotisserie may also be used to refer to a store, deli, restaurant, or preparation area that roasts meats using the rotisserie to prepare the food items.